


The Risk

by QueenMeap



Category: None - Fandom
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-14
Updated: 2019-08-14
Packaged: 2020-09-01 01:42:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,615
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20250085
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/QueenMeap/pseuds/QueenMeap
Summary: One shot. Kind of a cliffhanger. NOT MY WORK. This is all my friend Lydia's, but she doesn't have a account so yeah.





	The Risk

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Lydia King](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=Lydia+King).

The walk home was depressing. 

Ok, ok. I know that ever since our collective consciousness took over, every walk has been depressing. There are no trees, no brightly colored houses, no kind, old crossing guards to give you the latest gossip. But today was extra depressing. And I have no idea why. Maybe it was because when I yelled “Hey! How’re you doing?” to my best friend’s mom, Mrs. Mercury, across the street, she turned and looked sadly at me, not even bothering attempting a weak smile. Maybe it was because everyone looked at me that way. 

Even my house looked sad. Our house was a lighter gray than all the others, so it looked almost white, the happy color that was first to go when our collective consciousness ordered the “Banishment of Bright Colors Commission.” I saw my sister, Sydney, sitting on our drab metal porch chairs, looking sadly at the ground. When she saw me, she got up hurriedly and ushered me inside, like she had been anticipating my arrival. 

“Downstairs,” she told me deliberately. 

After she had pushed me all the way down the basement stairs and into our crawl space, she began talking at light speed.

“Whoa, Whoa,” I said, putting a firm hand on her shoulder to stop her. “Slow down. Not all of us can understand your nerd-speak.”

She shook her curly blonde hair out of her green eyes and asked, “Did you hear the new commission?” 

I shook my head. She gave me the same look that Mrs. Mercury and all of our neighbors had given me. “I hate that everyone looks at me that way! Like- like they feel bad for me or something!” I snapped. “Can someone please tell me what’s going on?”

“Shhh!” Sydney hushed me. I narrowed my eyes at her. “One hour ago, our Collective Consciousness issued the ‘Population Regulation Commission.’ Apparently the consciousness looked at the population and saw that there are more 12 year olds than any other age.” 

Now I saw tears shining in her eyes. Now I finally realized that whatever she was about to tell me was going to affect me greatly. 

“They decided that all of the 12 year olds,” she said, pointing at me, “need to be eliminated.” She now curled up in an empty cardboard box. I could tell she was sobbing and shaking quietly inside. I sat there for a moment, wondering if this could really true. And then I realized what this was all about-

“Ha ha,” I said loudly. “Great prank guys. You can come out now.”

Five minutes passed. I knew that this had to be a prank, and that Sydney’s friends were hiding behind boxes, waiting to spring out and yell, “You got pranked so hard!” and then roll around laughing. 

But no one came out. All that I could hear was the Sydney’s sobs getting louder and louder. 

That night at dinner, even my parents looked sad. Mom, whose deep brown hair usually flowed freely down her back, had tied it into a triangle of three tight buns on the back of her head, a thing she only ever did when we were going to a funeral. Dad, whose wispy blonde hair usually stood straight up in a mini mohawk, had it slicked down onto the side on his head, and even his bright orange freckles looked gray. No one had even touched the meatloaf, mashed potatoes, brussel sprouts, and sliced apples that lay sitting on the table. 

“So…” I said, breaking the 6 foot chunk of ice hanging over the table. “Sydney pranked me today.”

“Ah,” Said Dad, gnawing on a brussels sprout. 

“She told me that our collective consciousness issued a commission for all the 12 year olds to be eliminated,” I explained. “Obviously she told you guys, and all the neighbors, because-”

“Honey,” Dad interrupted. “It wasn’t a prank. And it’s happening tonight at midnight.”

That night at 11 o’clock our doorbell rang. I knew it wasn’t the collector bots coming to take us away. When I opened it, my friends, Jane Mercury and Lena Kingsley rushed inside. Just like Sydney had done to me earlier, I ushered them quickly into the crawl space. 

“What’s going on?” Said Lena. “Why did you call us over here?”

“Duh,” Said Jane. “She wants to spend a little time with us before we all die!”

“We’re  _ not  _ going to die!” I whispered to them. “We’re going to hide.”

“Where?” Asked Lena.

Lifting up a loose floorboard, I replied, “Down here. This is the old tornado shelter-”

“But there haven’t been any tornadoes in this city,” Said Jane.

“Exactly,” I said. “I used to come down here all the time. It was like my secret hideaway or something. I have loads of fruit snacks, juice boxes, and crackers down here.”

“Fruit snacks, juice boxes, and crackers? Wow. You must have been really little when you came down here.” Said Jane. I didn’t tell her that I went through most of my stash yesterday.

“Aren’t we risking a lot by doing this though?” Said Lena. “How long would we have to stay down here?”

“I don’t know.” I said. “But I do know that we won’t get eliminated.”

The glowing watch on my wrist told me it was midnight. The sound of our front door exploding told me that the elimination bots had come. The sound of Tony Long screaming in pain next door told me they meant business. 

Lena whimpered. Jane looked genuinely terrified. Then a deafening silence. We could hear the bots scanning the house. Then all was silent again. 

“I think they’re gone,” Said Jane.

“Oh no.” Said Lena. 

Blood was dripping from her nose. We knew that she frequently had these horrible bloody noses, but we hadn’t anticipated one coming tonight. She grabbed for the tissue box, but it was empty. 

“If I don’t stop it I’ll bleed out and die,” Said Lena. Jane snickered. “I’m serious! I need to go get another tissue box!”

With that she climbed out of the hiding spot. A few seconds later we heard “Sto-o-o-p.” Lena yelled, “Guys!”

Terrified, we slowly climbed out of the crawl space. We saw a trembling Lena facing two medium sized, almond shaped, hovering eliminator bots. We stood by Lena.

“What shall we do with them?” Said the bot to its partner. “Eliminate?”

We saw Lena’s face go sheet-white. “N-o-o.” Said the other. “I have a better idea.”

They scanned us with a blue net of light. We tried to move, but the net had frozen us. A compartment on the front of the bots opened and a hair thin needle protruded from it. They stuck it into each of our arms. My legs crumpled. I fought it so hard, but as they lifted us into their hover car, everything went black.

It wasn’t until what must have been hours later that I woke up, feeling nauseous and comfortable at the same time. I saw Jane, who had a dreamy look on her face, and Lena, who was wearing a smile. They seem to both have woken up before me. We were laying on the floor in a blue glass room. I tried to stand up, but I was still frozen. 

“Ah, good, you’re awake.” Said a voice.

It was the most wonderful voice. It sounded like Mom, Dad, and Sydney all rolled into one. It made me feel relaxed. I just wanted to let the voice talk to me, and dream, and be asleep and let it envelope me. Was this the collective consciousness?

I felt myself being lifted by an invisible hand, towards a glowing red ball of glass. But then I remembered: this was the same collective consciousness that tried to have me and all of my friends eliminated just hours before. I began to try and squirm, but I was still restrained by the invisible net.

“Calm yourself,” I heard the consciousness take the voice of Sydney and whisper in my ear. Against my will I immediately relaxed. 

“You’ve done a bad thing,” I heard my family, Lena’s family, and Mrs. Mercury now in the collective consciousness. Even though I could not see my friends, I knew it was talking to them too. “You risked your lives and the lives of your friends. You went against my will and the will of the rest of your world.”

_ No!  _ I thought. For some reason I hated the thought of the collective consciousness not liking me. I wanted to be impressive to the consciousness. I want it to love me.

“Don’t listen to it!” I heard Jane scream.

The ball of glass turned dark black. Blacker than any technology could ever produce. It looked like the midnight sky, and at the same time the depths of the sea, and it made me feel like I was shut in a dark cave with no light. “Silence!” Its voice was not relaxing anymore. It was rigid, cold, and sounded like a thousand hisses of snakes, roars of lions, and thunder of stampeding hooves, but I could understand it perfectly. “I see you are not grateful to my presence. You shall pay.”

There was a sucking sound. I felt a hundred invisible ropes pulling me closer and closer to the glass ball, pushing me up against it. I felt my neurons burning as the collective consciousness destroyed them and took over my brain. And then white. 

I was clothed in white. I saw Jane and Lena standing near me, also clothed in snowy white robes. But I wasn’t myself anymore. 

I heard the rigid voice once more before I felt my whole soul dissolve. 

“You’re mine now.” 


End file.
